Historical Photo – Addressing the ‘Housing Crisis’

A woman wearing Victorian-era clothing walks in front of the “Carzonia Apartments” at Fourth Avenue and Cornwall Street in the Inner Richmond, circa 1908. Mimicking Carville in the Outer Sunset, Dr. Charles V. Cross placed 10 surplus McAllister-line cable cars on a narrow strip of his land between California and Cornwall streets to address housing needs after the 1906 earthquake and fire. Photo from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection, courtesy of a private collector/Western Neighborhoods Project.